By now you’ve likely heard about psychiatrist and columnist Tanveer Ahmed’s recent opinion piece in The Australian in which he effectively blamed radical feminism for domestic violence. Others have explained…

Australians don’t like the death penalty – we just don’t want the discomfort of having to care about the people it’s applied to.
EPA/Made NagiFebruary 3 2015

Barring some sort of last-minute miracle, two relatively young Australian men, Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, are going to be killed by the Indonesian state. They will not be the first to die this way…

The shocking brutality of the first world war has had ongoing consequences.
Archives New ZealandNovember 4 2014

US philosopher William H.F. Altman will deliver the keynote address at Crisis and Reconfigurations: 100 years of European Thought Since 1914, a conference hosted by the European Philosophy and the History…

The word morality makes people uneasy – but not ethics. What is the basis of a moral education?
Flood G/FlickrSeptember 7 2014

The human animal takes a remarkably long time to reach maturity. And we cram a lot of learning into that time, as well we should: the list of things we need to know by the time we hit adulthood in order…

The suspension of Philip Nitschke’s medical registration, and the events leading up to it, has sparked one of the most heated discussions about euthanasia in Australia for some time. What’s surprising…

Most of us would react to a title like Honour Killings are Morally Justified that with immediate revulsion.
Rehan Khan/EPAJune 25 2014

Last night, after a public outcry, the Sydney Opera House’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas pulled a presentation from its upcoming program. The talk in August by Sydney writer and Hizb ut-Tahrir representative…

As a general rule, one place you really don’t want to find yourself is in-between a Melburnian and a piece of real estate. But one group of long-term city residents has been getting in the way of developers…

The Biennale’s severing of ties with Transfield won’t change anything for those suffering on Manus Island right now. But gestures matter.
Department of Immigration and Citizenship/AAPMarch 9 2014

In July 1846, the American writer Henry David Thoreau went to prison for refusing to pay his poll tax. He couldn’t abide the thought that his money would be used, however indirectly, to perpetuate the…

John Jarratt as Mick Taylor in Wolf Creek 2 … so what’s the problem?
Courtesy of Roadshow FilmsFebruary 27 2014

Well, I’m outraged, I tells ya. Outraged! This is such a shameful snub. Margaret Pomeranz and David Stratton, beloved hosts of ABC’s At the Movies, have apparently refused to review a major new Aussie…

Tony Abbott argues his first duty is to advance the national interest, without telling us why acting in our own interests is always right or even permissible.
AAP/Daniel MunozDecember 9 2013

Irish philosopher Richard Kearney visited Melbourne last year and, being the fine raconteur he is, told a great tale from his nation’s past. In 1492, Black James, nephew of the Earl of Ormond, and a group…

We need to think about an ethic of eggs.
Flickr/Petarrr!October 4 2013

Today’s announcement that Woolworths will phase out the selling of cage eggs seems like pretty good news. But let’s not get carried away. The “free range” label on a carton of eggs can mean densities of…

A vote for Clive Palmer is a vote for giant, animatronic dinosaurs.
AAP/Dave HuntSeptember 6 2013

Here’s a sentence you probably won’t hear again for a while: when I lived in the UK, I couldn’t get over how constructive and intelligent British politics was. Having come from Australia, where Question…

What place for The Thinker will there be in an Australia under an Abbott government?
Steven FettigSeptember 5 2013

And so now we officially know: philosophy is a waste. How can we be sure? Because Coalition spokesman for scrutiny of government waste Jamie Briggs has promised an Abbott government would get rid of “those…

If you treat smoking as a purely personal choice you’re not giving enough weight to the impact of dying young.
stolenscript/FlickrAugust 3 2013

A few years ago I saw a poster stuck to the wall of a train station in Copenhagen. The poster was a protest paid for by a prominent Danish musician against new regulations against smoking in public. At…

Where does the Australian ‘fear’ of asylum seekers arriving by boat come from?
AAP/Scott FisherJuly 25 2013

There’s a Latin word: misericordia. It’s usually translated “mercy” or “pity”. Thomas Aquinas took misericordia to be a kind of grief at the suffering of others as if that suffering were our own. Alasdair…

Late one night recently I got a very frustrated email from a close friend. He’d just spent the evening arguing with investors about whether they needed to take ethics into account in their investment decisions…

The Church of Conscious Living, which offers ‘believers’ with a religious exemption from vaccination is engaging in astroturfing.
Stefani/FlickrJune 3 2013

The akedah narrative – the story of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac at God’s command – is one that has long inspired and haunted Jews, Christians and Muslims. In being prepared to kill…

Demonstrations over the death of Margaret Thatcher have raised questions about the morality of celebrating death.
EPA/Facundo ArrizabalagaApril 16 2013

A funeral ceremony will take place for former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher in London’s St Paul’s Cathedral. Outside, protesters will be turning their backs on the coffin as it passes through…

Can you believe it’s been a year already? I’m sure we all remember where we were when we heard the terrible news we’d lost Gregg Jevin. You know, Gregg Jevin? The Gregg Jevin? Don’t worry if the name doesn’t…

Scientist Laurence Krauss has said the philosophy of science is hard to justify.
World Economic Forum/FlickrFebruary 18 2013

A little over a century ago, our first prime minister told our first parliament that “the doctrine of the equality of man was never intended to apply to the equality of the Englishman and the Chinaman…

Southern Cross Austereo CEO Rys Holleran has expressed “sorrow” at the death of Jacintha Saldanha, but who is to blame?
AAP/Joe CastroDecember 10 2012

This past weekend, we saw the media – old, new, and social – trying to digest the indigestible. The death of Jacintha Saldanha, the British nurse who apparently took her own life after being caught up…

The ABC’s popular Q And A show revolves around opinion. But not all opinions are of equal value.
ABC TVOctober 4 2012

Every year, I try to do at least two things with my students at least once. First, I make a point of addressing them as “philosophers” – a bit cheesy, but hopefully it encourages active learning. Secondly…

A bride should not have to submit to her groom.
PotatojunkieSeptember 5 2012

It’s not often I find myself agreeing with Archbishop Peter Jensen. But his latest foray into the public space was right about at least one thing: it’s time for a serious, grown-up discussion about the…

Jeannie Blackburn was the victim of horrific domestic violence from a man commended for heroism.
AAP/Julian SmithJune 27 2012

Last week, I received an email with the subject line: “Bravery award for baby killer.” It urged readers to sign a Change.org petition calling on the Royal Humane Society of Australia to rescind a bravery…